Mood:
loudTopic: Project Runway Canada II
Welcome to Project Runway Canada episode Four. We are down to nine designers now. Japan believes nine in and unlucky number and, needless to say, one designer will find his/her number up. Today's challenge begins with the designers being greeted by Iman who, once again is amazing. She can make almost anything look fabulous, which makes the farmer Brown outfit all the more perplexing. The models are brought out and for the first time, they are mixed up as the designers switch models. They now all hate each other.
Why do they tend to keep the same model episode after episode? Because once they know the model's size, they can concentrate on the design and they don't have to worry as much about altering the fit.
Iman then divides the designers into groups of three by pulling names from the magic bag. The challenge is to create a collection that pays homage to a Haute Couture designer. They will each produce a look under the direction of a team leader and the collection must be unified and cohesive. There's that devil word again, cohesive. They will have time to discuss and sketch, then off for fabric. The teams are as follows
- Brandon, Kim, and Baylor. They choose Yves Saint Laurent from the list. Kim is the leader. Brandon confesses he has no idea who Yves Saint Laurent is or what he did. Kim suggest the classic men's wear as ladies wear theme.
- Jessica, Jeff, and Jason. They choose Valentino. Jessica is the leader and realizes she's in over her head. She doesn't admit she isn't very familiar with Valentino, but she drops a few hints along the way. The oldest guy, Jeff -suggests classy evening wear and Jessica suggests red as the dominant colour.
- Sunny, Genevieve, and Adejoke make up the last team. They select Versace, and all three are very familiar with Versace's work. Sunny is the leader and he decides to go for the sexy dominatrix look and focus on purple. As Gloria Vanderbilt once said, "never say no to purple"
They are taken away for fabric, arriving at a tatty area filled with dirty warehouses and such. They come to a dirty garage door in the middle of an otherwise blank cinderblock wall. Inside there are hundreds of clothes strung from clothes lines. They meet the owner of a vintage store and she tells them they will be using vintage garments to make their couture inspired looks.
I love this idea! In the bizz we call this "re-con" short for reconstruction and it's something many budding designers do when they can't always afford new store-fresh fabric. We all quickly learn that old clothes are a rich source of material, and thrift and vintage stores are filed with fun and funky fabric finds. Taking apart old clothes and transforming them into something new should be second nature I've made many, many re-con projects over the years. Almost all of my denim skirts are re-cons, I'm wearing one now. Re-con can be fun and challenging and requires a designer to think and design on the fly. You can't let the original purpose of the source garment dictate the finished form. Pants can be turned upside down and made into jackets, jackets can become skirts, skirt can become shirts, drapes can become evening gowns. Just ask Scarlett O'Hara. Or Carol Burnett! The official title of the show is "Re-Fashioning the Houses"
We all quickly learn that old clothes are a rich source of material, and thrift and vintage stores are filed with fun and funky fabric finds. Taking apart old clothes and transforming them into something new should be second nature.
The designers seem to be untroubled by their source material. Sunny finds the prize, a disgusting stain in one item. He's not really surprised, the designers seem more amused than anything else Sunny, Genevieve and Adejoke hum along like well oiled sewing machines. When Genevieve concentrates hard she gets these maniac eyes...it's quite cute. You can clearly see how intense she is on this project. Some comments are made about Sunny doing another corset on top and a ~~afterthought thing~~ on the bottom. The purples are quite lux and they appear to be on the right track.
Meanwhile at team Valentino one is draping some red satin Jacquard curtains over his form. It's already looking very Valentino. Jessica is worried that he's too old and doesn't have fresh ideas. Darling...Valentino is mature and refined. This is why I call Jessica's street act posing: the more stress she is under, the more the street slang and street accent deserts her. You can't keep up an act when you are under stress. The guys are doing well, Jessica is falling apart under the stress of trying to figure out what gives a Valentino it's unique look.
Finally, Kim Brandon and Baylor are functioning like a poorly oiled sewing machine. Kim is a marvellous sportswear designer and her couture looks more and more sportswear and less couture. Baylor is doing fine, his top looks mid seventies YSL. Brandon has abandoned the nail polish, the trappers hat and is flying without an airplane on this one. How can he not know who YSL is?
Okay, I can understand, sort of. As a designer you can't spend too much time looking at other collections lest you become too inspired, or worse something you see gets implanted in the sub-conscious part of the brain only to come out later in a place where you can be called out for copying someone else's work. On the other hand, there are valuable lessons to be learned from studying the masters. Pouring over the latest collection by heatherette could be a bad idea, examining what made Dior so special is a good idea.
Speaking of Dior, I would have picked Dior and focused on the "new Look" era. It's true couture, the vintage fabrics would have lent themselves well to the style, it's easy to put one's own stamp on the look, yet remain true to the influence.
A digression. What is Couture? It's one of the most misunderstood and misused words in fashion. Haute Couture is heavily regulated by the French Government and is considered high art and a national treasure. For a fashion house to qualify they must produce two lines a year with a minimum of 23 looks, including one wedding gown. All the clothes must be of the finest materials and made to exacting standards of craftsmanship, artistry, and originality. Machines sewing is minimal, much of the detailing, embellishment and finishing is done by hand. A true Couture garment looks as impeccable in the inside as the outside. There are no shortcuts. A true couture garment starting price is in the thousands, and they can go into the stratosphere from there.
Couture dressmaking techniques include precise hand basting (my teacher measured our stitches and marked us on how we held our needle!) precise hand seams, pad stitching, catch stitching interfacing's, tailoring, hooked needle (Tambour) embroidery and embellishment, needle embroidery and embellishment, painting, dying and fabric manipulation and attention to small details. There are no true couturiers in Canada and maybe one or two in the US. And no, Juicy Couture is NOT couture. It's false advertising. Having the word "Juicy" embroidered on the ass of your sweat pants does NOT mean you are wearing couture. There are many who practise couture techniques.
Early in the challenge the designers are told by Brian there is a special guest. they all gasp as we go to a commercial break, The same six commercials are shown and DAMN! I NEED a Winner's accessory wall. The special guest is Iman -she enters and says "this is where the Fashion Magic happens" uh...no --this is where the real work is done...it's work, not magic. It's also where all the grousing and sniping go on. She gives the designers her impressions of each of the designers, and her special relationship with each, including YSL. Brandon is visibly sweating.
Brian does his mentoring thing and tells Jessica she needs to lead the group. She's being overwhelmed by this and the previous challenge and it shows. Once again, she has no experience with mature and sophisticated and it shows. Jeff and Jason are doing well and I like Jeff's curtain dress, it's very Valentino. I keep getting Jason and Jeff mixed up.
He likes the YSL sort of, but wonders if they are bit too sportswear. he tells them to up the sexy and the sophisticated. They all tell Brandon not to admit that he has no idea who YSL is.
He like Sunny, Adejoke and Baylor, but they need to get busy and work hard to finish the looks. Versace is over the top, and they need to pump up the drama.
There's some garden variety snipping, snarking and cutting up the other designer's work. It seem disingenuous and like the producers asked them to do it to add drama. They all leave and tomorrow is the big day of the show. At the mansion Brandon is rehearsed on what he is to say to cover up that he has no idea who Yves Saint Laurent is. They all know if he admits his ignorance he will be barbecued alive. There is no clear cut villian this season, no Bidell, no Santino, no Zulema...no bad mommy Laura...sad.
It's the morning of the big day, and Jessica is falling apart into little red chiffon pieces. Brian comes in and gives her his standard cheer-leader pep talk, rising like a Phoenix, she can do it, rah-rah...all he needs is white boots and pop poms.
Jeff gets some pointers in spin, he doesn't need them as far as I'm concerned. One dress is getting padded to compensate for an excessively skinny model, Genevieve is very intense, her eyes are almost popping, Sunny has some excellent styling ideas, Jason's zipper broke, and Jessica is pinning and sewing up to the last minute.
SHOWTIME!
Iman is in Gaultier again and she's impossibly perfect. The judges are introduced, and Wayne Clark is the special guest judge. I think he did Margaret Trudeau's wedding dress long long ago.
The Versace collection is first and it's excellent. Sunny is well done Genevieve's eye popping was all well worth it, and Adejoke was okay. Of all the designers I think Adejoke has become the one note, we keep seeing the same over and over.
The Valentino group is next. The curtain dress is the best of the bunch. I don't understand Jessica's dress, the red and lace is a little scanty looking, but does capture some of the Valentino flare.
YSL group has some fine looking...no! Brandon! No! Making two pant legs different colours never works, even the Joker wears pants with the legs the same colours. YSL would never make anyone look like a clown! That's Betsey Johnson's job! Kim has a nice sportswear look, maybe not YSL enough. Baylor has a nice top that captures a bit of the YSL spirit, but no.
JJJ is called out and they are safe, much to Jessica's undying relief. All three live to sew another day. I am assuming the Sunny will win and either Kim or Brandon will be out. I hope Kim stays.
The judges love the Versace look, It seems that Sunny can do no wrong, he could put a model in a flour sack and they would all applaud. Adejoke must have been quite confused by the judges, they hate what she did, and then they talked themselves into liking what she did.
Next is The YSL group and Brandon commits fashion suicide by admitting he isn't familiar with St.Laurent's work. The judges take him to task for not knowing, especially Iman, who was the designer's muse for several seasons. They liked Baylor's top, he hit the mark, and while Kim's outfit was nice, it wasn't YSL in the least. She then almost talks herself off the show, too. Be quiet Kim, you are making the judges angry. Who wins? Who doesn't measure up? We find out next after the newsbreak, in which another storm is on its way. The warm interlude appears to be over.
We're back...And team Versace is the winner Sunny is the individual winner. They tell him he's got the entire season wrapped up and it's his to win. Genevieve is second place. Baylor leaves next, meaning he came in third. Adejoke is next and she must stop being a one note. We are left with Brandon and Kim. Kim is taken to task for re-constructing the rules, and Brandon is taken to task for being clueless. Kim is in, and Brandon is banished because he didn't measure up.
And I didn't see the preview because my kids were talking to me. Sorry!
I'm not sure if I'm liking this season. It seems disjointed, all over the place. We aren't really getting to know the designers unless they are on that episode's chopping block. It's making it too easy to guess the losers. The personalities are being allowed to shine, I'm constantly getting Jeff and Jason mixed up, Jessica's urban-tough act slips under pressure, and we have barely seen enough of Genevieve. I like Sunny, Adejoke, Baylor, Kim is my dark horse, although based on precedent she's probably out next week; Jason/Jeff might pull a trick or two out of his hat, Otherwise I'm still ambivalent about this group. Here are a few of my own re-con pictures:
This was a skirt, one of those with the cut-work along the hem. I turned part sideways so the cut-work is along the neckline and the rest is on the hem. I added sew-on glass stones for sparkle and some matching glass buttons.
This is a simple blouse made from a 1950's dance dress. This is all that was salvageable. The original had a cheongsam top and a flared skirt. The top of the dress was stained beyond use, and parts of the skirt suffered from severe abrasion, especially in the butt. I got the dress for the rhinestone buttons and it was simply a bonus that there was enough salvageable material for a sleeveless blouse. I tried to keep the oriental mood of the fabric and the original. The rest of the buttons have made their way into other projects.
The top is made of a burnout velvet skirt and the sleeves are a lace panel from a whatnot bin, and the denim skirt is two skirts fused into frankenskirt. One came with the rhinestone embellishments, but in a girl's size 6. I added to the length, the width and wondered, what size six wearing girl needs a rhinestone trimmed denim mini dress? it was unworn, the inner brand tag looked unwashed and unworn. the other was ripped in the front and the fly was defective. The two became frankenskirt!
See y'all next week, there are eight remaining and only three can go to fashion week, five more need to be eliminated and this means five more challenges ahead.
